SIMONE
WEIL
3 février 1909
24 août 1943
'IN 1942 SIMONE WEIL
JOINED THE PROVISIONAL FRENCH
GOVERNMENT IN LONDON
BUT DEVELOPED TUBERCULOSIS
AND DIED IN GROSVENOR
SANATORIUM, ASHFORD.
HER WRITINGS HAVE ESTABLISHED
HER AS ONE OF THE FOREMOST
MODERN PHILOSOPHERS.'
Simone Weils's grave is in Bybrook Cemetery near Ashford. She died of a heart attack and the 'official' report was that she effectively killed herself by starvation, although her biographers refute this claim, citing her wish to eat no more than the allowance of her fellow kinsfolk in occupied France.
Close to the cemetery, Simone Weil Avenue is named after her in 1983.
'SIMONE WEIL
This road is named in honour of Simone Weil,
the French authoress and philosopher who died
in Grosvenor Sanatorium, Ashford in 1943 at
the age of 34 years.
Bybrook Cemetery, where Simone Weil is buried,
is situated in the north side of the M20 motorway
and can be seen from here.'
Even in 1983 they still demeaned female authors by calling them 'authoresses'? Shocking. And could Bybrook Cemetery ever be seen from the corner of Simone Weil Avenue and Canterbury Road? It would surprise me.
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7 comments:
Tell me if you remember red roses on Simone Weil's grave, as we have some taken from cuttings. I enjoyed your profile. We are to return to the hot south from London soon. That is why we wonder if the roses were there, are still there, and should we replant them, as they were from the French foreign leileg origionall.
Kerry
Kerry, I'll let you know next time we visit, which should be very soon. Thanks for the comment. Tony
Thank you, Tony, for this post. I plan to remembered her life tomorrow on the anniversary of her death. Her philosophical work is profound, original and important. Her life is an incredible example of a purity of spirit and courage rarely seen. It is a tragedy she died so young but I can only hope there was a higher plan for this to spare her from later suffering. It is good her final resting place is known.
And thank you for your contribution, Tom.
I am very interested to find out more about The Grosvenor Sanatorium in 1939-1943. It appears that Simone Weil was in here when my grandmother may have been here. I would love to be able to find an inpatient or admissions list for this time.
Sadly may perished here but they appeared to have been looked after the best they could be in those times.
Thank you for reading
Regards
Tracey
I was always intrigued by Simone Weil . I can tell she honestly wanted to get to the truth about many things . I remember she said most people will only take you seriously if they know you to a certain extent and that most people who dont know you at all will not care about what you say on any topic. She was certainly a passionate woman of a sort. She really needed to find out for herself what the workers experience was like and she really wanted to connect with them on some level . She may have been quite headstrong . She is very much a mystery like Emily Dickinson of Amherst massachusetts .
Hello, Tony Thanks for this. May I ask about the italian phrase I thought had been anonymously put on Weil's gravesite, please? Something like... "I held in my grasp the pain of others until my death"?
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